Hot work garment



Oct. 30, 1951 K. L. DUNN HOT WORK GARMENT Filed March 5, 1947 0 a u 9 L. L z M Qttormy Patented Oct. 30, 1951 I 1- 2,573,414 HOT WORK GARMENT Karl L. Dunn, Corning, N. Y.

Application March 5,, 1947,, Serial No. 732,565 6 Claims. (01. 128-144) The present invention relates tospecial purpose garmentssuch, for example, as coveralls suitable for protection of personnel working in extremely hot areas.

It is recognized that many attempts have heretofore been made to devise suits of the foregoing general .character which would keep a worker reasonably comfortable for even a short period of time on a hot job otherwise humanly unbearable, but so far as applicant is aware none of these'prior suits have proven satisfactory.

The prime object of the present invention is a garment whose exterior surface is impervious to any great amount of heat in the form of infrared rays.

Another object is a garment which can be held a distance from the wearers body and that permits. free motionwith a minimum of mechanical incumbrances. Y

A further object is a garment composed of a material which is reasonably light in weight, pliable, and fire resistant. Y

Another object is a garment in which a blanket of insulating air can be maintained between it and the body of the wearer.

A still further object is a garment which can be readily maintained in an inflated condition about the body, legs and arms of a wearer, while air is circulated therethrough in sufiicient volume to carry out heat at a rate to maintain body comfort while supplying the wearer with bodyconditioned breathing air.

The foregoing objects are realized in a garment having an outer surface of aluminum or the like which is highly reflective to infra-red; and Whose inner surface is dark in color, preferably dull black, and accordingly presents a low resistance to the absorption of infra-red.

A material known as dirigible fabric has been found to admirably fulfill the above requirements. This material is impervious to air at moderate pressures and has an aluminum surface on one side roughly 60% reflective and with a black reverse side surface only reflective, and accordingly may be said to have good radiation refleeting and absorbing characteristics. Such a material when tailored into a garment with the reflective surface exposed to the exterior surroundings and provided with tight fitting cuffs and anklets so that it can be readily maintained inflated while permitting a controlled exhaust of body-conditioned breathing. air to be supplied about the neck opening of the suit into a conventional hot workers helmet provides the worker with a shield whose exterior surface is substantially" impervious to infra-red and whose inner surface accepts infra-red and distributes the resulting generated heat over its inner surface so that such heat can be readily swept out of the garment by a stream of moving air between the suit and the workers body body comfort.

.For a clear understanding of the invention a, preferred embodiment thereof, illustrated the accompanying drawing, will be described.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig.1 is a front view of a man clothed in a garmentembodying the invention and wearing a hot worker's helmet of conventional form.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of Fig.1. Fig. 3 is a view of the garment turned wrong side out to illustrate the air distribution system I therein arranged on the back. thereof.

, Referringv to the drawing, .it will be seen that the garment, designated II, is in the general form of a pair of coveralls having a body opening down the front, closed bya slide fastener l2 and joining a plain neck opening I5. The sleeves l6 and I! of the garment are provided with draw strings l8 and I9, respectively, adapted to effect a tight fit of the sleeves I6 and I? about the wearers wrists to prevent the escape of any material amount of air from the garment at these locations. In a similar fashion draw strings 20 and 2| are provided about the ankle portions 22 and 23 of the garment.

To provide for air distribution within garment ll, an air distributing manifold 24 is arranged within the back thereof having an intake tube 25 extending exterior of the suit and provided with a suitable fitting 26 for connection with a compressed or blower air supply line 27. Projecting upward from manifold 24 are air tubes 33 and 3| suitably attached, as by threads 34, to the inner back surface of the garment H and terminating near the wrist portions of sleeves l6 and I1 and provided with perforations, such as perforations 33. Another tube 35 extends upward from manifold 24 and has perforated branches 36 and 31 which terminate over the shoulder portions of the garment ll. Depending from manifold 24 are air tubes 4| and 42 attached to the garment legs and terminating at about knee height.

Extending from oppositeends of manifold 24 at a rate to maintain more of such pads may, of course, be provided as needed for the comfort of the wearer.

As stated the helmet 50 may be of conventional form having a skirt 5| and provided with snap fasteners such as 52 and 53 to aid in holding the skirt 5! down about the garment II as air blows for the most part out the front portion of the neck opening 15 and adjoining body opening as regulated by the position of the slide fastener 12 along the length of that portion of the garment front covered by skirt 5!.

Although the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form thereof, it is to be understood that variations of the disclosed embodiment will suggest themselves and come within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A sleeved and legged garment constructed to enclose the human body from the neck down to the hands and feet of the wearer, said garment having a neck opening joining a body opening and having arm and leg openings, means for closing the latter openings about a wearers wrists and ankles to the escape of any substantial amount of air under moderate positive pressure within the garment, means for progressively closing the bodyopening from the end opposite the neck opening to control the exhaust of air in theregion adjoining the juncture of the neck and body openings, a skirted helmet arranged over the neck opening, and means for supplying air. to the interior of ,saidlgarment to maintain the same inflated about a wearer while exhaust of air continues from a'portion of the garment covered by th helmet skirt.

. 2. A garment such as defined by claim 1 wherein means is provided for holding the helmet skirt attached to the garment.

3. A garment such as defined by claim 1 wherein an air distributing manifold is arranged within thegarmen't and has air distributing passages extending therefrom and terminatingin shoulder arm and leg-portions thereof.

4. A garment such as defined by claim 3 wherein a body belt within the garment extends from the manifold to be worn about a persons body within the garment to remove strain of an air supply line connected thereto from the garment.

5. A garment such as defined by claim 3 wherein certain of the passages are provided with outlets along part of their length.

6. A sleeved and legged garment constructed to enclose the human body from the neck down to the hands and feet of the wearer, said garment having a neck opening joining a body opening and having arm and leg openings, means for closing the latter openings about a wearer's wrists and ankles to the escape of any substantial amount of air under moderate positive pressure within the garment, means for progressively closing the body opening from the end opposite the neck opening to control the exhaust of air in the region adjoining the juncture of the neck and body openings, an air-distributing manifold arranged within the garment and having air-distributing passages opening into portions within the garment covering a wearer's body, and hav ing other passages thereof opening into portions within the garment extending between the wrists and elbows and between the knees and ankles of the wearer.

KARL L. DUNN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

